k hydraulic dredge pump repair

Pumping Cow Manure

Pumping Cow Manure

I just thought I would share my latest adventure. It was quite smelly to say the least. We had a customer who bought a HS-E81-80 pump for a dairy farm. Now who would have thought that a manufacturer that produces the best slurry pumps in the world would be called upon to provide a pump for a dairy. This pump was bought to pump cow manure. The pump was installed at the beginning stages of the Covid-19 lockdown. The customer called me up saying the pump was plugging up behind the impeller and stalling the pump.

Of course, I could not fly up to help them so we had to help what we could over the phone. I had dealt with this situation before with recycle paper pumps so I used a little ingenuity on this one. I asked them to machine the pump out vanes off the backside of the impeller and open up the impeller gap to .400 of an inch. I know this sounds a bit excessive but trust me it works. Of course, I got this approved with our engineering department.

Needless to say, I got a call from the president of the company who bought the pump. He said we had done such an excellent job in resolving the issue that he wanted a second pump for a spare.

Well, I had had the opportunity to visit the site a few days ago. The pump has now been running for 6 months with no issues. They are pumping cow manure for 1 mile using our pump. They take the manure, put it into collection tanks then heat it. It produces methane (bio-gas) that is used to drive a generator thus generating electricity for their operation and selling the excess to the power company. I have attached a few pictures but some of them might not be for someone with a weak stomach.

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Until next time, stay safe out there.